The present invention relates to air conditioner units, and more particularly, to a condensing coil cooling system for collecting condensate that condenses on the evaporating coil, and spraying the condensate on the condensing coil to provide increased operational efficiency by removing heat from the refrigerant prior to evaporation.
The efficient operation of air conditioners is of ever increasing importance as energy cost continue to rise. Previous attempts to provide increased efficiency have resulted in various designs for applying water to the condensing coil to cool the liquid refrigerant prior to evaporation.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,145,380 discloses a condensate disposal means for air conditioner units that includes collecting moisture from an evaporator and directing the condensate to the condensing unit which includes a blower for causing the condensate to be thrown randomly onto portions of the condensing coil.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,362,698 discloses gathering condensate in a drip pan and pumping the condensate to a single small spray head placed over a portion of the condenser coil for spraying the condensate onto the condensing coil.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,266,406 and 5,113,668 disclose cooling systems for spraying a mixture of condensate and tap water onto the condensing coil.
Several problems, however, exist with these prior art designs. Most notably, the systems fail to properly apply the condensate over large portions of the condensing coil and thereby fail to adequately cool the condensing coil to provide a significant increase in energy efficiency. Other designs require a supplemental water supply from a municipal water source or a well to unnecessarily saturate the condensing coil with water. This substantially increases operating costs and reduces any potential energy cost savings benefits that may result from cooling the condenser coil. Additionally, this supplement water contains harmful chemicals and minerals that collect on the condensing coil and reduce its ability to dissipate heat, thereby failing to provide increased efficiency. Other systems attempt to eliminate such harmful chemicals and mineral deposits by including additives in the water. This again substantially increases operating cost and reduces any potential energy savings.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an air conditioner condensing coil cooling system to increase operating efficiency of the air conditioner to result in energy cost savings without significantly increasing operating costs.
It is a further object of the present invention to dispose of the condensate produced by the air conditioner by spraying the condensate over the condensing coil to cool the condensing coil.
The above objectives are accomplished according to the present invention by providing an air conditioner condensing coil cooling system. In the preferred embodiment, the air conditioner includes an air handler located on an interior of a house for directing conditioned air throughout the house. An evaporating unit is carried within the air handler having an evaporating coil for cooling the air as is well known in the art. A condensing unit, remote from the air handler, is located outside the house and includes a condensing coil for cooling compressed refrigerant gas into liquid refrigerant, which is later evaporated in the evaporating coil.
A condensate collector is included in the evaporating unit for collecting condensate that condenses on the evaporating coil. However, instead of simply discharging the condensate onto the ground outside the house as is typically done, a drain line is provided that extends from the condensate collector out of the house and connects to a pump outside the house for drawing the condensate through the to drain line.
A manifold is included in the condensing unit that is connected to the pump. The manifold generally surrounds the condensing coil and includes a series of spray holes positioned facing the condensing coil. The pump cycles condensate through the manifold to supply a pressurized spray of misted condensate exiting from the spray holes and being applied directly onto the condensing coil to cool the condensing coil and provide increased efficiency in the operation of the air conditioner.
Advantageously, the more the refrigerant is cooled in the condensing coil, the more heat it can extract once it is evaporated in the evaporator coil, resulting in a more efficient air conditioner to cool the house. According to the present invention, a pressurized spray of cold water, in the form of a fine mist, distributed in a wide pattern over the condensing coil substantially increases the efficiency of the unit by extracting more heat from the refrigerant as the water evaporates on the condensing coil than would normally occur at ambient air temperature. As a result, the refrigerant is cooler when entering the evaporating coil and can extract more heat from the air passing over the evaporating coil inside the house. Notably, as temperature and humidity rise, the availability of condensate increases. Spraying the increased amount of condensate on the condensing coil causes efficiency to increase at the same time the load demand increases on the air conditioner to cool the house during high temperatures. This helps keep in check the peak power demands of the unit by reducing the amount of power normally needed during peak power demands. Not only does this provide energy savings to the homeowner while providing better cooling, but results in a reduction of the power company""s problem with meeting peak power demand requirements of consumers during the hottest months of the year.
As noted above, supplemental water sources dramatically increase operating costs and are wasteful. Fortunately, condensate water, which is free and usually discarded, can be used as the cooling water to be sprayed on the condensing coil to provide the supplemental cooling effect for increased efficiency. Furthermore, designs that merely drip condensate water onto the condensing coil are inefficient as they fail to use the full potential of the condensate water to remove heat from the condensing coil. The present invention distributes the condensate water over a much larger area of the condensing coil by misting the condensate as it is sprayed out of the manifold under pressure, resulting in greater heat removal and increased operational efficiency.
The construction designed to carry out the invention will hereinafter be described, together with other features thereof. The invention will be more readily understood from a reading of the following specification and by reference to the accompanying drawings forming a part thereof, wherein an example of the invention is shown and wherein:
FIG. 1 shows an illustration of the condensing coil cooling system according to the invention;
FIG. 2 shows a cut-away view of the condensing unit carrying the manifold according to the invention;
FIG. 3 shows a detailed view of the condensate spray holes according to the invention; and
FIG. 4 shows the manifold and pump according to the invention separated from the condensing unit.